Come Into The Darkness With Me
by Funky In Fishnet
Summary: Molly Holly hides in the darkness, that's where she belongs. But someone watches her. Someone everyone thought had disappeared for good
1. Alone

Disclaimer: own nothing  
  
Backstage could be dark. Very dark. The type of darkness that felt cool and thick to your skin. Molly sighed happily and continued walking, her arms wrapped around herself. Some of the divas hated walking alone backstage; in nearly all the arenas were pockets of blank darkness and unused corridors which you had to use to get to where you needed to go. The other divas asked for men to accompany them. Molly walked alone. She liked the time she had to think to herself. She enjoyed the darkness and sometimes, it felt like someone was watching over her.  
  
Slowly she made her way back into the light and towards the locker room she shared with the full Raw women's roster. As she did, she heard someone call her name. She turned and saw Stephanie Mcmahon walking briskly towards her. Molly smoothly fixed her face into a positive smile. She couldn't let one of the most powerful people in the company see her real tragic face.  
  
"Stephanie, I didn't expect to see you here" she said quietly  
  
"Well I have to keep an eye on Eric" laughed Stephanie "he can get some fancy ideas if someone doesn't keep him in check"  
  
Molly nodded. Of course. Eric. He and Stephanie had been married for only a short while now but had been together for longer, ever since he'd first appeared as the Raw General Manager. The fans didn't know that of course. As far as they were concerned, there was a vicious hatred between the two General Managers. Nothing could be further from the truth but the fans would never know. Everything else was as the cameras caught it, the wrestlers' lives captured on-screen for everyone to see.  
  
"So what are you doing here?" Molly asked, trying to sound interested  
  
"I got bored" offered Stephanie "besides, Eric is always forgetting things, I just help him the best I can"  
  
At that point, her cell-phone suddenly went off. Sighing she pulled it out of her jacket pocket answered it  
  
"Yes Eric?.......the match list should be in your office...well since you fired your Chief of Staff, things have been all over the place .....alright, alright! I'm coming"  
  
With a noise of frustration, she snapped it shut.  
  
"I'll see you later Molly, ok?"  
  
Before waiting for an answer, Stephanie disappeared down the corridor at a fast pace. Molly stood for a few seconds. She felt like a pale cold shadow. There was nothing to do. She wished she was on Smackdown a lot of the time. There were too many barriers, too many ties here on Raw. The Hurricane was here, her ex-partner in fighting crime and he barely spoke to her, having never forgiven her for double crossing him like that. The hurt in his eyes cut through her deeply whenever he glanced her way. Chris Nowinksi had finally given up trying to bed her but still she saw him looking at her, watching and waiting it seemed for his opportunity to strike. It gave her the shivers. The Dudley Boyz had never liked her and constantly appeared when she was alone, waiting to punish her for first taking their little brother Spike away from them and then for breaking his heart. Spike himself avoided her, offering only a sad defeated smile when he saw her. She had Victoria, at lease she did at the beginning. Now Victoria was too involved with her psychotic partner Steven Richards. She said that he understood her better than anyone and helped her understand the voices in her head better.  
  
Molly looked around. She was reminded of why she hated the light. It was burning and fake, making her head buzz painfully. She turned quickly and walked back to where she'd come from. Into the cooling darkness. She felt alone in the light but in the darkness, she wasn't. For some reason, someone watched her. She didn't know who. Maybe it was her light-addled mind playing sadistic tricks on her but she was almost sure someone gazed from the very depths of the velvety night. In the darkness, she was safe, here she wasn't alone. She was at home. 


	2. I Can See You

Disclaimer: own nothing. Thanks to all my reviewers, especially the fabulous Fallen Angel who I love with all my heart. Making their way is coming soon babe I promise  
  
She didn't know who was watching her. Even then as she moved back towards into the darkness, he watched her soundlessly. So impenetrable, she didn't even notice him. He sat high above her in the rafters, one leg hanging down and swinging soundlessly. As she continued to move towards the darker corridors, he slowly got to his feet and began walking softly after her until he was ahead of her. He stopped in the depths of the forbidden corridor. This was the place so many of the divas chose not to come to or got escorted through if they needed to go. But Molly didn't need an escort. She revelled in the darkness he too chose to embrace. She was such a beauty to behold but she didn't see it. As she walked towards him, he enjoyed the vision he saw.  
  
Her hair had been cut and dyed back from its artificial perky Holly blonde to a coppery brown that curled and shone just down to her neck. Her delightful china face was decorated with large eyes that were chocolate and soulful showing every emotion so beautifully and expressively and a full sensuous mouth. Her body was porcelain white and full and curvy. She hated her curves, uncomfortable with the gifts she'd been given. Tonight, she wore liquidy deep royal blue; a stretching vest with a v-neck almost to her cleavage that was laced up and tight hugging pants. It all accented her body perfectly and allowed her to wrestle. He sighed. He was afraid to stare anymore, his thoughts would overtake him and he'd let his presence known to her. She'd probably scream or maybe she'd understand. She was so like him. No one else was.  
  
They all thought he'd gone. Been fired because he didn't fit the mould of the perfect well-behaved superstar. Screw that. He was never going to be normal. He'd seen what happened to normal people. He'd watched his old friends as they either dropped away like him (Justin, Jerry Lynn) or got buried mid-card (Tommy, Lance, Dawn). There were those who had made a mark, managing to find a way to get noticed (Rob, Tajiri). But they were few; they were the lucky ones. The ones who had some outstanding feature which made the dull-minded audiences take notice of their in-ring skills. They were truly extreme. He had been extreme but no one understood him. They thought he was crazy, not quite real. They were right about that, he wasn't  
  
Neither was she. She wasn't born; she was lovingly made somewhere far from heaven. Embued with a darkened purity which shone out to him. It always had done, ever since he'd first seen her. She'd been talking to her cousins, Hardcore and Crash Holly. They'd been pumping her up for her match. She had long blonde hair then with dark roots. Her darkness had been painted over. Her smile was so sunny it was hard to look at her sometimes. But she'd changed, she'd become a superhero and she'd joined the Alliance. Ah the Alliance, such a wonderful plan. He had been more than willing to join up, a chance to wreak havoc. And there she'd been. Dressed in a black and pink cat-suit with the same silly blonde curls. She'd hated the crowd. She had a purpose, to fight at the Hurricane's side (a very dillusioned boy) and they didn't understand. But even then he could see that dark light. She just wasn't letting it shine. Then one day she did. She betrayed the Hurricane. She pinned him for the Hardcore belt and won the title. He had been in awe of her. No other female would dare try that but she did. Why? Because finally the darkness claimed her. Then she began to change.  
  
She became the creature that he was watching now. The beauty that shivered in the light and embraced the darkness. Maybe he would reveal himself and then she wouldn't feel so alone. He watched her as she stood in the darkness, a smile on her face. Then she turned and began walking quickly away, it was nearly time for her match. He watched and then lifted a hand and traced her name into the air in front of him. MOLLY. She stopped and looked back, startled. Yes he would say something soon. But she had a journey to go on first before she could discover him. 


	3. But I Can't Find You

Disclaimer: I own nothing, hence my studentness  
  
Molly stopped. An involuntary shiver worked its way down her spine. She hated it when that happened. It meant that something wasn't right. She looked around. Nothing but thick darkness clouded her vision. It made her safe but it blinded her to life's obvious features. She couldn't see what had made her react in that way. It was curious. Something had made her stop and shiver. She didn't scare easily. Being brought up in the Holly family did that to a person.  
  
It wasn't that it had been bad. It was just..tough. Yes, tough was the word. Everyone was expected to work-out, be in good shape and do what they were supposed to do. In Molly's case, it meant help around the huge family house in Alabama. The men and the women worked in different very separate areas, very traditional. But because she was so strong, the men let Molly join in with their work. Instead of cooking or cleaning, she mended fences, chopped wood and did repair work as well. She also lifted weights in the gym with the men. Her existence was a cage with an occasionally open door. More than anything else it was lonely, there was no one else in her family like her. Growing up had been almost unbearable in places because her family had managed to mould her into something she wasn't. But they also equipped her with the tools she needed to succeed in wrestling which she's desperately wanted since laying eyes on wrestling for the first time when she was very young. Her family had made sure she was blonde and perky at all times, seeing the good in everything and behaving beautifully. She was charmingly innocent and a picture perfect lady.  
  
But she wasn't. Back then she'd thought she had been. She believed how her family portrayed her. But all it took was a stint in the Alliance to convince her otherwise. She'd been fighting to find her identity for years; first as the proper Holly cousin, then Spike's first love and then the Hurricane's sidekick. Spike had promised to make her feel safe but his promises had crumbled to dust. They'd been very happy for a long time, she'd thought that he understood her, knew exactly how she felt. He was the misfit in his family too; while everyone else was big, bulky and strong, Spike was small and scrawny, unafraid to risk his body to make up for it. She thought they were the perfect match. But it wasn't enough. She didn't feel completely safe. That only came from the darkness, which he couldn't bear. So she left him. She betrayed every WWF superstar and fan as she jumped to the Alliance. The Hurricane had said he could help her discover her powers and that she could help him fight injustice. She was excited about that. She knew he was lonely, no one treated him with any respect except maybe Lance Storm who had been his tag team partner. So she got herself a costume and began her career as Mighty Molly. It had been ok, fun in places. Hurricane knew how to make her laugh and for a while, she forgot her loneliness and unsure feeling inside and out. He had made her forget and she loved him for it. They were a team and he was a misfit too. But as she spent more time in the business, she realised she wanted more. She wanted gold, to be taken seriously. Not just light lazy fun. So she betrayed him and won the Hardcore title from him at Wrestlemania briefly before Christian won it off her. But she'd made a statement. She'd proved a point. She was as tough as her background, as tough as what she endured.  
  
Molly turned slowly, looking back at the darkness. Someone was watching her. She could feel their eyes crawling over her skin. It wasn't an unpleasant sensation. Instead it comforted her. Someone was looking at her but they weren't going to hurt her. If that was their intention, they would have made a move long before now. They were there and if they didn't want to reveal themselves then that was fine too. As long as she knew they were there and not to laugh or hurt her, she could cope. She idly wondered who it was. It could be anybody but it was a familiar feeling; they had watched her before. It seemed like they always had. She didn't know who it was. She had a match to get to  
  
She turned back and walked to the locker room, stuffing the feeling deep back inside her mind. Once inside, she began making any final preparations. Last minute stretches, a bit of make-up so that her face wouldn't be washed out on camera, slight clothing adjustments. All the usual diva duties Molly detested but was forced to do before another of the locker room occupants commented on it. The door opened and Ivory walked in, well bounced in more like it. She smiled widely when she saw Molly. Molly frowned inside. She liked Ivory, she was an aggressive ring worker and a great opponent but someone who could never understand Molly and her craving for the darkness.  
  
"Hey Molly" Ivory said cheerfully "ready for the six woman tag?"  
  
"Sure" Molly tried sounding a little upbeat, very unconvincingly "I mean it's my first time on Raw for a while"  
  
"Mine too" Ivory said "Its great to be back in front of the cameras again huh? I mean as well as the fact we're opening the show and it's an all woman thing, if you don't count Theodore Long"  
  
Molly managed a brief smile at the excitable brunette before dropping to the floor to stretch out. Ivory continued chattering, partly to herself and partly to Molly as she began applying her make-up in front of the full- length mirror with expert precision. Her voice rebounded inside Molly's head. She liked silence; it calmed her down completely. But Ivory liked noise; she liked herself to be heard. Molly grimaced at the floor as she stretched. This was her first Raw appearance for a long time, since she'd been relegated to Heat for so long. She wanted it to go well; no she wanted it to go perfectly. She was teaming with Jazz and Victoria, two of the toughest women ever to compete in the WWE and friends of her's. Well they had been before Jazz hooked up with Theodore Long and Rodney Mack and Victoria partnered Steven Richards. Now they were merely people she'd known, people who partly understood her because they'd been through similar situations. They didn't understand how harmful the light had become to Molly, how she craved the darkness now. They were fighting against Trish Stratus, Jacqueline and Ivory. There was no peace.  
  
Not one of the divas understood her. She felt like a stranger in the locker room. They were all there to look good and to do business. They put on great matches and all seemed to have a great time. Molly always felt out of place. Sometimes she missed the times she was with her cousins Hardcore and Crash Holly. They understood her more than most. Hardcore could be very protective, saying that Molly was too pure for the business. He used to make her so mad. But at least they knew her background and what she'd been through. But they didn't know her loneliness or the darkness. Only a few people did and it seemed to Molly that they had all left the WWE. Leaving her to face the light alone.  
  
Molly sighed and without a word, walked out of the locker room. She stood against the wall outside, sighing. She felt buzzing and charged. Ivory always managed to unnerve her. She wanted to go back to the darkness where she go rest and feel safe and at home. She didn't belong in that locker room where the divas fantasised about their next television break or what next marketing opportunity was going to blossom from. Jazz and Victoria had understood that, they knew how frustrated she felt when all she wanted to do was wrestle and prove herself to be worthy of the title. But now Jazz was too busy fighting alongside her new comrades and Victoria, who's been Molly's closest friend, was very distant. She's gone away for a few months and had come back with more than a few precious screws loose. She made Molly feel like even more of an outside when she found a soul mate in Steven Richards.  
  
Molly belonged to the darkness. Where someone watched over her without a word. Again she wondered over the identity of her guardian. People talked about guardian angels who watched from above. Molly wasn't sure herself. A presence was there that calmed her. They made the darkness complete. She was more than a little curious. Then she remembered the time. Abruptly, she shut off all thoughts of discovering the identity of her guardian. She turned and walked to the Gorilla position, to do business. Like she always did. 


	4. Observe the Soulmate

Disclaimer: hey I own nothing! I'm a writer  
  
He wondered if she'd remember him and how he looked. He knew she would but he still wondered. He had changed a little, his aura was still the same. He'd been assured of that by his fellow workers. That was important. He was always evolving but he didn't want to change beyond recognition. He was who he always was. The pure soul among the dirty. He was proud of his achievements, sparse to the human eye they may be but to him, they were boxes of delight.  
  
He had carved a path of destruction through ECW. He'd stolen people and their souls. Beulah, Francine; they all fell before him. As he knew they would, shallow as they were. He had that energy to him that drew them near. They always had. But not Molly. She was never drawn to him. She had always acted disgusted by him when she was face-to-face with him. He'd admired that. She hadn't been scared of him. Everyone else was. Even her cousins; those bland bumbling Hollys who thought they could capture her free spirit and imprison it in a cage of sunlight until it blinded her and she stopped struggling. Back then, she was fighting to stop him from keeping his hardcore title - a belt pasted together with no care what so ever. She was fighting to help her cousins keep their so-called hardcore moniker when they had no idea what true hardcore wrestling was all about. Only the chosen few, those who had endured the bloodbath and beauty of ECW truly knew.  
  
There were so many different warriors who'd experienced it and been shaped by their time there; Rey Mysterio who flew with the grace of an angel, Rob who contorted his body in reckless abandon, the misshapen Dudley clan who seemed to walk with a terrifying purpose. If he had known what they would do to Molly when she had fallen in sweet love with Spike, he would have made sure that every single one of them would have born his mark, his signature and would regret every second they spent planning her destruction. Maybe he would have treated Spike with a little respect since he made her so happy or maybe he would have destroyed him before she had ever known true love so that she could have experienced it with him. He would have never let her know the pain of crashing through a table. He would have made sure she was behind him, shielded from the pain. Or would he have let her fly in front, his breath taken away by the grace and strength in the Molly-Go-Round. No one did a move with such precision and intent as she did when she leapt from the top turnbuckle. She was beauty itself when she did that, her face contorted in anger and aggression. Her natural state, one she was finally allowed to show and revel in.  
  
He moved along the rafters again and came to where a small monitor was rigged up. It was one thought too small for the corridor but he'd rescued it for his own purposes. Sure enough, he watched her come down the ramp, accompanied by her companions, Victoria and Jazz. Never had she looked so alone. Oh they were like her. Victoria was delightfully unstable, psychotic in her notions and vicious in her ring actions. She was to be admired and feared by men and women but she was in her own world, inhabited by only herself and Stevie Richards. Another ECW cohort who's insanity perfectly mirrored (in broken shards) the mindset of ECW. Jazz was tough, one of the strongest women to ever step foot in a WWE ring and another ECW wrestler. She practically breathed fire as she moved, accompanied by Teddy Long who was determined to get his black girl success. In ECW, her colour meant nothing. Her skill meant everything. They were more like Molly than any other diva in the pitiful locker room yet they were separated by their purposes; Victoria by her insanity and Jazz by her chosen path. Molly stood alone in her own pool of darkness. The others had all chosen the light, even her comrades though it was a shade darker.  
  
He watched her from his position on the rafters as she worked in the ring, her flawless ring style incomparable to the other divas. In his mind, no one could touch her. Trish Stratus, one of her greatest adversaries, got more cheers for her hard work in the ring and her sexy poses out of it. He would rather have Molly for a night than Trish for a lifetime. He found himself clenching his fists as he watched, willing her to win and was surprised to find as he uncurled them red marks in his palms from the pressure. He knew it was not to be. She was against those considered the fan favourites; Trish, Ivory - a women who spent time first telling people what not to do and then teaching others the basics of the sport and Jacqueline - a tough dark Texan who seemed ambiguous and washed out. At least in his mind. He felt his heart move as Molly tried, he could see the pain in her face as she was trapped, twisted until she broke. But she could not break. She was of darkness and was not real. She couldn't be broken and shattered like mortals were. He knew that and wondered if she did too. He saw her face as they lost; anguish and pain flooding her features and changing them into a look that nearly moved him to a smile. Nearly. Her brows were drawn together over deep stormy eyes that showed a thousand emotions at once, her darkened lips drawn into a scowl. Yet there were tears in her expression. Tears no one else could see. People would say she was bitter, that she was angry that she didn't win in her first match on Raw in so long that he couldn't remember when she last made an appearance that wasn't on its sister show Heat. But he knew better because he knew her. He yearned to tell her so much about herself, to teach her to draw deeper into the darkness and let it mould her as it moulded him.  
  
She would be out again soon. He could watch her then. He could revel in the chestnut curls of her hair and liquid curves of her hated body. He could see everything no one else would, the tears in her soul. Maybe he would even fly down to her. That's what his wings were for. He could see her wings too, he wondered if she knew how to use them. 


	5. From Above

Disclaimer: I own nothing, zilch. Hey lots of u have guessed my mystery man, I know it was easy! He'll be properly identified in this chapter. Thanks for the lovely loyal reviewers, specially from my FallenAngel, u rock girly on every level!!  
  
Defeated, again. Molly let a long wistful sigh escape her lips. Should she have expected anything else? No, not if she was using logic. She was just ring fodder; a body to throw around between the ropes that meant nothing. No character at all. The heel equivalent of Ivory and Jacqueline. They didn't complain. They'd been in the business for years and revelled the chance to purely wrestle, their passion for it stemming from years of working to get what they wanted. Molly loved wrestling too. It was her life. But she wanted more. She couldn't stay in the light for so long without some reward, some compensation for the burning she suffered.  
  
Last year, she had received that. A reign as the Women's Champion, winning it off that tramp Trish who'd thoroughly enjoyed drawing the world's attention to the fact that Molly had a large ass. She wasn't proud of it, she knew it wasn't her best feature. But why did people have to laugh about it and call her names? It wasn't big and clever to do things like that. Molly hurriedly patting her face with the towel she was carrying. No one must see her cry. Everyone back here thought was a frigid bitch with an icy façade that prevented any penetration. Why disappoint them when the truth was so very different? The truth that she didn't want them to know, how soft and tender her centre was beneath the layers of darkness she'd used to heal herself after the burning rays of sunny personality she'd been forced to be had drained her to the core.  
  
So what if she was a virgin? Was it a bad thing? She didn't jump into bed with the first hot man she saw just because it was fun. She was waiting. Molly nodded to herself, some confidence trickling back into her. It had been her decision a long time ago when some of the farm hands on the Holly property made very obvious passes at her; a couple even tried holding her down. She soon took care of them though; her weight training was not for nothing. She'd heard them say that she was like an angel, a vision they couldn't get out their heads as she worked beside them in cut-off faded denim shorts and a checked shirt tied at her navel, her butter yellow curls brushing against her porcelain flesh above her neckline. They made it sound like her fault. And Molly had never forgotten it. She had decided then and there that no man could have her that way unless he wanted her because he loved her totally and completely for the person she was. Not because of the pretty perky appearance of perfection she radiated moulded by her unforgiving family. She'd kept it too. She thought she'd found that person in Spike but that dream shattered into the glowing sunset.  
  
Slowly, she found she was walking back to the darkness. Her feet seemed to automatically find the way as though pulled by some invisible force. It was after all where she belonged. She'd gone back to the locker room and after changing into comfortable grey pants and a fitted long sleeved deep blue top, left Jazz and Victoria to their petty bickering about who's fault it was that they lost the match. They were like two spoiled brats sometimes with their constant arguing and Steven and Theodore trying to get them to work it out. Molly had just slipped away, a shadow who avoided blame completely. She'd come to the place where she felt completely calm and free of blame and anger. The darkness that devoured her left her perfectly contented.  
  
No one noticed her backstage anyway. Stephanie was very nice and always talked to everyone but that was because she and Eric ran the shows and wanted everyone to be happy. They worked hard at it and Molly admired Steph because people said nasty things about her though Stephanie acted as though they were nothing. It had happened her whole life she said so a few more wouldn't make any difference to her. Molly wasn't as flashy or trampy as most of the other divas and sort of faded away. But that was fine with her because she got to seep into the darkness where she belonged. Where an invisible stranger watched her and didn't judge her. Where she felt completely at home.  
  
As she neared the darkness, she began to feel at peace. The minor irritations of today seemed to disappear beneath this wealth of deep soothing tranquillity, all the judgements she left slapped against her gone. She was soon right inside, where no one could see or touch her, far away from the pain that plagued her and stung her tender centre when the darkness was not there. She closed her eyes and rolled her head back, happy to let go a little where no one could see her. She had covered her embarrassing flesh completely, the top didn't reveal her belly as she felt it stuck out, making her body appear even more dough and podgy than it was, if that was possible. She hated what other people saw. She hated even more what they thought when they saw her and how they laughed. But she didn't need anyone because she tried relying on people before and tried loving them but it didn't work. Now she just had herself and the darkness.  
  
That was when she heard a noise. A long slow sigh-hiss of contentment. Her eyes snapped open and a familiar shiver chattered up her spine. She looked up to the rafters.  
  
And saw Raven looking back down. 


	6. Perhaps

Disclaimer: own nothing. One more chapter to come maybe before we leave them to their demons. Thanks for the gorgeous reviews (thanks Manda!! I dig ur new pen name, what do u think of mine?)  
  
He couldn't stop himself. He'd seen her sit down in the darkness, perfectly relaxed and contented in her glorious curves. He'd seen her close her eyes and bathe in the tranquil loneliness she thought she possessed. His contentment wasn't supposed to be vocal but it was. And Raven was discovered  
  
He didn't know what her reaction was going to be. He knew she wouldn't run screaming or faint. She was no Barbie doll diva; she was more likely to deform them over licking flames as he often did. He liked to see how many different ways he could destroy their image. She was more like that perfect china doll you saw and admired in the toyshop window but were afraid to touch as it might destroy the image. He thought maybe she'd walk away and keep away from the darkness forever, maybe try and get used to the light that they'd both grown to detest. He understood that, many before him had chosen the light instead of the darkness with him. Instead her eyes snapped open and she looked at him for a long time. Her eyes seemed locked on his face and he couldn't turn away. He was under her amazing spell without her knowing she'd cast it.  
  
Then she'd spoken and it was like heaven to have words of her's addressed to him with malice  
  
"Where do I come up?"  
  
He pointed silently to the side. If she ventured further in there was a wall with an almost invisible ladder pressed against it. He half hoped she wouldn't find it and then he wouldn't have to find out what she was going to do and say. He could hear the ladder creak as she made way up, sure- footed and unflinching. She needed no help to find her way up into the Raven's nest. Then she appeared, a simple smile decorating her face and her curves aching to escape the stretchy covering they were cursed with. He tried a simple smile back and then settled for looking down at his feet swinging as he sat on a rafter.  
  
"This is where you hide?"  
  
Her voice came again. He didn't look at her; he nodded instead.  
  
"Me too, it's just safe here"  
  
He felt her move closer and sit down beside him. Then she leaned against him and his discomfort slipped. There was no need for words. She just seemed to fit there with no adjustments necessary.  
  
"You've been watching me, has it been fun?"  
  
He decided he'd have to answer that  
  
"It's been interesting" he offered "Watching your spirit as it faltered in the sunlight"  
  
Molly looked at him startled and he cursed in his head. Would she understand his inner thoughts that so often scared people when he said them out-loud? Instead she nodded.  
  
"Is that why you left?" she asked  
  
"Because of the sunlight?, Mcmahon wanted me to step into the light and I refused, I found the darkness again though"  
  
"In the NWA-TWA?"  
  
"So you've been watching me as well"  
  
"A little, how's Tori?" There was a tiny sliver of pain cracking in her voice and her whole demeanour became sharper, angrier. He'd have been more captivated had her pain not been directed at him.  
  
Raven thought about how to answer this question. The ninja was the first to bring them together. Tori had known pain, had known darkness. She'd hidden in it her whole life, she'd shared it with Kane and then when she'd swapped the charred memories of Kane for the instant trash of X-Pac and been injured, she'd sought out Raven. A partnership had been formed. Slowly, he turned his face to Molly  
  
"She is not my partner anymore, we found each other and then after you pulled her mask off, she broke even more and I was unable to help her"  
  
Molly looked at him intently. He felt like she was searching under his skin for any loose thoughts she wanted to inspect. He was surprised to find that this made him uncomfortable. No one made him uncomfortable  
  
"Why did you go with her? She belonged to X-Pac"  
  
"You know as well as I do Molly that no one belongs to anyone unless you have the power, X-Pac had none, I did. She was hurt, broken, her mind was never the same since before she met Kane, both scarred, you remember"  
  
Molly lowered her eyes for a second. Raven could see and share the images that flooded her mind. Kane who rampaged through the ranks of the WWE with his intense self-loathing that he hid beneath a mask and tender child-like emotions that were so easily manipulated by the women in his life. Tori had loved him it seemed, or loved his protection until X-Pac tempted her away. Then she had collided with Raven in their collective darkness and he had been captivated by her velvety cat-like beauty and her intense shaded love of the deep pool darkness. Until Molly broke her even more, Tori had dressed as a ninja and had saved Raven from losing his Hardcore belt. But Molly was vengeful and tore the mask from Tori's face, exposing her to the nations.  
  
"So she's gone" Molly stated, one of her legs dangling from the rafters  
  
"I never saw her again after that night" confirmed Raven "she threw herself much deeper in than I could contend with, I had to let her go and pry off Mcmahon's grip on my life"  
  
"And here you are, again"  
  
Silence fell between them contentedly and Raven breathed an inward sigh of relief. Perhaps she understood him enough; perhaps she wasn't an unobtainable china doll, too precious and perfect in his eyes to touch. Perhaps  
  
*  
  
He didn't look the same as he had when he left the WWE but the feeling; the thoughts were the same. His hair which had been in bleached blonde plaited dreadlocks the last time Molly had seen him was now curly and back to its original (if his hair had an original colour) fiery colours. He was dressed in frayed blue denim knee length cut-offs and a dark cartoon T-shirt. His tattoos seemed to have increased in number and there was a thick black mark below each eye as though someone had dragged a finger downwards from below the eye. But the looks, the way he moved her was the same. He had always understood  
  
Up here in the rafters, Molly felt safe. That cloaking presence that had always been present in her mind when sat in the darkness had increased until it seemed to surround her completely. He had been her guardian and had never said a word. But he'd always been there. She didn't even realise that she held so much anger about Tori until the words left her lips.  
  
But Tori was gone, into the shattered sunset. All that was left was Molly and a Raven. Slowly, Molly leaned towards him tentatively until her head touched his shoulder. His roughened fingers reached around and began stroking her face. It wasn't patronising; it was reassuring. There was a hint of trembling in his fingertips that caused Molly to smile. He wasn't all cool iciness that never melted beneath his strange veneer. He was real. Perhaps 


	7. Nevermore

Disclaimer: own nothing as usual  
  
"Ever think about coming back?" Molly asked quietly  
  
"Ever think about coming away?" Raven countered  
  
Molly looked up at him, her eyes large and glassy with withheld tears. He looked right back. He seemed to look right through her, see her bones. He knew how she felt here in the WWE, invisible. She had watched him as he became invisible in the darkness in the WWE. He had been a star in ECW, Spike had told her about all the damage Raven had inflicted on people through his own love of sadism and craving for power. Spike had made her promise that she would stay away from him and from a lot of the ECW cohorts. She'd promised for the sake of his love, which she had depended on. But she had still been drawn to Raven and watched out of wide eyes as he carved his path of destruction. Even then, she had known how similar they were; he had moved from one woman to another, looking for that love which would complete him before throwing them away, carelessly it appeared to the outsider but it was out of necessity. When a love that's supposed to save you turns sour, you have to get out before that person takes your soul.  
  
She had thought a lot about moving away. She had so much history here in the WWE, so many mistakes that still existed and still stung. Look what staying had done to her family! Crash had gone to Smackdown then had left for a while before coming back as one of Matt Hardy's followers. He'd rang Molly to tell her about his decision to become an MF-er. He needed a new direction he said; Stephanie never noticed anyone lower down the card. She spent most of her time trying to help Eric out, leaving her own show to turn messy. That was why Vince had had to interfere more than he'd originally wanted to. Crash had been so excited and for a few weeks, it seemed to really put him back on track but then he left. No phone calls, no letters, nothing. Molly didn't know where he'd gone. The awful thing was that she didn't really care. Crash was sweet but he was a simpleton, always seeing the best in people and never taking enough for himself. When she was of her sunny disposition that her family had carved out for her, she'd got on very well with him but now, Hardcore was the one she understood. He had always been tough and loved to dish out beatings to the younger cousins to 'toughen them up'. She'd been so scared of him as a kid but now, he was like a brother. He'd been so proud when she'd fully embraced the darkness and started seeing things the way he did. He was injured now; his arm and bicep which had become his downfall had again caused problems. Molly always made sure she rang him. The WWE had nearly destroyed her cousins; one mentally and one physically.  
  
"I have" she said finally, sure that Raven had seen and read everything she'd thought in those brief moments "the WWE isn't the dream I thought it was"  
  
"Nothing ever is"  
  
"Maybe, ECW was for you wasn't it?"  
  
Raven was silent. Molly tilted her head so that she could see his face. His eyes showed his feelings so clearly, it was like seeing his feelings on a video wall. The connection between the two of them nearly blew her away  
  
"Yes, it was my own private dream - Paul realised earlier than I did" he answered at last "but the WWE destroyed it before it was fully realised and I was forced to come here"  
  
"We all were, Vince bought everyone out"  
  
"And he built his own dream"  
  
They could finish each other's sentences, read each other thoughts. They'd suffered the same and had found that to heal the wounds, you had to use the darkness. It was strange. Molly smiled to herself. It was just how her family wouldn't want it. She'd found the person who was the male equivalent of herself; stripped of all the gloss people tried to apply to them both. Her family professed to love the sunlight but deep down, every one of them was made of the same dark matter. She could see so much. She could see it all now, sat beside Raven high up in the rafters.  
  
*  
  
"I can feel you smiling"  
  
Was that really a nervous twinge in his voice? He was never nervous, not even when faced with the greatest of ECW brainchilded horrors. But here, next to this pure and dark creature who seemed to be so in tune with his every thought, nothing was normal or expected. She had asked him to come back. That alone made him want to smile back at her.  
  
"I have thought about coming back" she seemed to have asked that question so long ago but he knew she expected an answer "but I could not fit in the way things are run around here"  
  
"Bischoff?"  
  
"An unholy alliance between Bischoff and Mcmahon is not what the WWE needs but that is what it has and the attitudes of the two will slowly tear it apart. Married they may be but their two shows war against each other, the superstars are locked in fierce competition and no peaceful outcome can be met"  
  
A beautiful smile touched Molly's lips. It dazzled him in the cover of the thick darkness  
  
"You watch the show still?" she asked  
  
He nodded  
  
"I watch you whenever I can" he replied without a shred of embarrassment "I see how they treat you and I see how you suffer"  
  
Now her face became darkened and angry. That stormy look filled her eyes that made him so filled with lust he wondered how he could control it. He wondered if she felt it too sometimes or whether it was just another sick product of his twisted mind  
  
"I will work through this" it appeared she was talking to herself "people need someone with class to be there, to look up to and I am willing to be the one to take the pain because I know eventually I will win"  
  
The determination on her face was enchanting and Raven could resist it no more. Without warning, he moved so that her head no longer rested on his shoulder and she looked up at him in question. He lifted her face roughly towards him and kissed her with every passion for her that had rested in his bones. He wondered briefly if she would be offended and pitch him off the rafters. He had his answer. Her lips responded hungrily to him.  
  
She didn't taste like cotton candy or syrupy sugar; all the sweet things that people expected Molly to be laced with considering her past sunny appearance. To Raven she tasted like warm flames and velvety darkness. She tasted perfect. Slowly they broke apart; one of Raven's hands tangled in the coppery curls that danced on Molly's neck.  
  
There was no need for words. Raven didn't feel like he could construct any suitable anyway. He and Molly had been alone in their darkened solitude but now, they no longer had to sleep alone.  
  
"I can't leave" she said finally, her stormy eyes locked on his  
  
"I can't come back" he replied  
  
Molly smiled that beautiful calm smile again and leaned in against him, fitting comfortably against his body. This was not about finding a true love in that sticky sweet way movies seemed to idolise. He and Molly were more complicated than that, they each had their demons. But they didn't have to fight them alone anymore. They had found the person who understood them completely.  
  
"What do you see Molly?" he asked  
  
"I see people walking below us, not realising how worthless their lives are" she answered, her voice taking on a dreamy quality "people trying to fit us into boxes that we don't fit into, meaningless things people worry about and I see the way we fit in above everyone else where we're safe"  
  
Raven smiled. She really did know his thoughts. She mirrored him perfectly. Nothing was going to be as it seemed ever again. 


	8. Origins and Thank yous

ORIGINS - I've always wanted to write a story about Raven and Molly after seeing their brief interaction back in 2001. I think Raven is one of the most underrated talents ever in wrestling with a fantastic talent for the dramatic and mysterious. Molly too is way underused. Putting the two together seemed natural. After writing the first chapter, I knew I had something special. The darkness in both of them really came through in their personnas and I wanted to capture that. I think and hope that I did.  
  
MUSES - stories by Starfallen (especially 'Our Little Victories' which opened me up to a whole new style of writing) old Raven memories and newer Molly ones, encouragement from NY BrAt 007, 'Bring me to Life' by Evanesence and truckloads of skittles  
  
THANK YOUS Amanda - I am so saddened to hear that u are giving up on writing WWE fanfiction though from what I hear bout what's on TV at the mo, there isn't much to inspire anyone. I hope u don't count me among those cluttering up fanfiction.net with meaningless stories. I've always valued u so much as an honest and different writer who sees things the way I do. I hope we can continue writing 'Return of the Princess' together. Please get in touch, thanks for the help with this - ur reviews meant the most  
  
All my other reviewers (Blynne and Kate - thank you!) coz u made me carry this on with ur support. Thanks for seeing the same twisted vision that I did.  
  
Special thanks to Molly (Nora Greenwald) and Raven (Scotty Levy) for creating two such wonderful characters who inspire me beyond words in every ff I attempt. I hope this has done u justice. 


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